Spotlight on the Common Reader and Keynote Speaker Jesmyn Ward

Jesmyn Ward was the first woman and first African American to win the National Book Award for Fiction twice—once for Salvage the Bones in 2011 and again for Sing, Unburied, Sing in 2017. But aside from the many accolades she has received, what makes Ward’s work so thought-provoking is how she is able to transport readers to the heart of Gulf Coast Mississippi through stories that are both personal and universal.

Ward writes about the American South with unflinching honesty, tackling subjects that other writers don’t want to discuss: poverty, racism, and environmental injustice. She does this without losing sight of the love, resilience, and community bonds that help people, and have helped her, survive. Her characters face real hardships—from Hurricane Katrina’s devastation (Salvage the Bones) to the lasting wounds of systemic inequality (Sing, Unburied, Sing and Men We Reaped)—but Ward’s prose reveals their strength and humanity in ways that deeply affect readers.

A particular skill of Ward’s is taking experiences that might seem specific to rural Mississippi and turning them into universal teachings about family, loss, and belonging. Her texts don’t shy away from hard truths, but they’re also filled with moments of love and connection that remind us of the importance of storytelling.

Beyond her fiction, Ward has written the memoir Men We Reaped about growing up in DeLisle, MS, and edited The Fire This Time, an anthology of contemporary voices on race in America. She is currently working on a YA novel. As both writer and educator (she teaches at Tulane University in New Orleans), she’s committed to amplifying voices that haven’t always been heard in mainstream literature.

Ward’s work proves that the most important stories often come from places and people that don’t usually make headlines—and that great literature can help us understand both where we come from and where we’re going.